


celestial solace

by forestpenguin



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Conversations, F/M, Late Night Conversations, Missing Scene, Translation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-12-23 23:05:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11999805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestpenguin/pseuds/forestpenguin
Summary: Amarendra and Devasena have a conversation | A series of 'deleted scenes'.





	1. Purple

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [celestial solace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12214131) by [forestpenguin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestpenguin/pseuds/forestpenguin). 



> This series will depend heavily on prompts & inspiration, so if you have an idea, drop a comment :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unraveling mistakes under the moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A translation of what I wrote in Tamil, inspired by @spiffycups' prompt [ here ](jaimahishmathi.tumblr.com/post/164381428016/since-ao3-annoyingly-doesnt-have-tamil-as-a).

“Devasena!”

Baahubali gently called his wife. Though his voice was normally steady and direct, today it is tainted with a hint of sorrow. 

The beloved daughter of Kuntala turned to regard him.

“I feel as though I have made a grave mistake.” 

Only a month had passed since their wedding. The full moon shone brightly in the sky, casting its light on the future of Magizhmathi. 

“What mistake?” Devasena asked.

“Rebuking my mother in the court.” 

Devasena straightened her posture and gazed towards the night sky. “That does not seem like a mistake to me. You were the one who swore to protect my dignity. You only opposed your mother to keep that promise, and to uphold  _dharma.”_ She turned back to her husband. “I’m only reiterating what you said that day - it was true then, and it is true now. If you ask anyone outside the walls of this palace, they will agree!”

Baahubali sighed.

“To be honest…” Devasena began, before letting her voice trail off.

“Don’t hesitate, tell me.” 

“To be honest, I think I’m the one who has made the mistake. I said many regrettable things in anger, on that day the Minister came to ask for my hand in marriage.” 

Baahubali gave her a wry smile. 

“Why do you smile like that?” Devasena sounded indignant. 

Baahubali shook his head. “Nothing. I was only thinking,  _is the Devasena who never goes back on her word saying this?_  I know my mother, and I know my wife,” he said, and then took Devasena’s hand in his. 

“Both of you are proper royals who love their motherland. Both of you have a little bit of pride and a lot of bravery,” he grinned. “But neither of you want to intentionally cause problems. I didn’t get to see Mother’s letter or your response. But I do not suspect either of you - no, I suspect someone else.”

“Who?”

“The Minister who read the letter, and Fate.”

“The Minister, fine, but why Fate?”

“I thought Mother would love you immediately, but Fate did not allow it.” Baahubali sat in resignation, gently resting Devasena’s head on his shoulder.

They both fell silent. Baahubali assumed Devasena fell asleep. Instead, her mind was trying to unravel a treacherous plot… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @queenofmahishmathi who beta read the Tamil version for me :D


	2. Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shedding light on the world's best-kept secret.

“Baahu,” Devasena begins, her husband’s nickname sticking to the sides of her throat.

He looks up from his work – he had been intently scratching away at a scroll outlining the weaknesses in the palace’s outer wall.

“What is it, Deva?” he hums.

When she does not reply, Baahubali sets down his quill and looks at her curiously. Deva lips curl up into a smile as she takes a seat beside him on his bench.

“I have some news for you.”

“News? What news?” Baahubali asks cheerily. “What news reaches your ears before the commander-in-chief’s – a new shipment of arrows to the palace? No… I would have heard about that. A visit from your family? No… your cousin left for Kuntala only a couple of weeks ago. What is it then, Deva?”

She tilts her head at him. “Well, commander-in-chief,” she says slyly, “what do you think it is?”

There is a birdbath on their veranda, three elephants hewn from white marble holding up a dish of water with their broad trunks. The water’s glass-like surface catches the rays of the midday sun, casting bright patterns across their room, dizzying and swirling and beautiful.

“Is the light of the reflection the same as the sun’s own rays?” Devasena asks, tearing her gaze away from the lightshow to look at her husband.

Baahubali supresses a smile. “Are you testing me, Deva?”

“Answer the question.”

“They’re the same rays, of course. Just a fraction of the Sun-god’s glory, but still a part of him nonetheless. Beautiful in its own way, made that way by reflecting off the water, the face of the river of Life herself-”

Baahubali turns away from the scene to look at Devasena with surprise. She raises both her eyebrows in response, questioning him mischievously.

“What is it, commander-in-chief?” she enquires, stern and innocent.

“Yuvarani…” he begins, a short rumble in the back of his throat like a resting lion.

Her smile grows.

“Are you…? Are we…?”

Devasena juts her chin out, assuming the posture of a Queen about to proclaim her right to rule.

“The heir to Magizhmathi’s throne-”

Baahubali smiles so widely it splits his face in half. He moves off the bench, kneels at Devasena’s feet, and takes her hands in his.

“Eldest child to the only son of King Vikramadevan of Magizhmathi and the only daughter of Queen Hamsaasanadevi of Kuntala-”

“Please, stop it there, I cannot take any more,” Baahubali begs, and he stands up slowly, bringing Devasena up with him. “My mind will burst – my heart will explode, oh dear _God-_ ”

He stops, a moment of clarity piercing through his excitement like an arrow.

“Amma will be happy when she hears the news, right?” His voice is eager, tainted with the innocent hope of a child. Devasena recognizes it as such, and not wanting to burden her husband with her suspicions, nods.

 


	3. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still Amaresena, but much sadder. (The morning after the night of terror.)

The firey ache in her abdomen is almost unbearable.

The heat of the sun beating down on her is almost unbearable.

The grin on Palvaldevan’s face, simmering with equal parts glee and repulsion, is almost unbearable.

Almost.

Almost as unbearable as the loss of the weight she carried for nine months and the presence that stood by her side for what feels like seven lives.

Now both those existences have been snuffed out, and all she’s left with are burdens.

The iron chains chafing her wrists.

All the hope that is left in Magizhmathi.

Her shoulders sag as she carries them. She realizes, in a year, or two, or twenty, most of the populace will have forgotten about their benevolent Prince and his newborn son.

Not her.

 _Never_ her.

Their memories are not a burden, but a lamp that flickers in the darkness. A beacon of Hope – that one day, her son might return.

 _Will_ return. She feels it – she _knows_ it.

Mahendra Baahubali lives! 

Their memories are kindling for the fire that sears through her veins, that sparks from her eyes. The fire that scalds the false-King, keeping him far away from her proximity. That burns his soliders, and causes them to poke and prod at the daughter of Kuntala with sticks and stones.

She doesn’t care.

She comes from the land of mountains and rivers – where great things take time.

She can wait.

She _will_ wait.  

 

 


	4. Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Under the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by @avani's prompt for me!

“When was the last time you saw the night sky like this?”

The day had long withered away to night and the moon took advantage of the open night sky to shine with its full majesty. Not a single cloud marred the view and it seemed the entire heavens had become an inky black canvas, littered with stars that glittered like the jewels she had discarded that morning.

Their light glinted in Baahu’s – he is only Baahu now, no more or less – eyes and his broad smile as he turned to his wife from his seat on the ground.

“I honestly can’t remember.” Deva shifted in her seat. The fabrics of her sari rustled around her as she tried to find a comfortable position on the woven bedframe – a seemingly impossible feat in her third trimester. Made even more so by the loss of her royal comforts.

Deva was no wilting flower, however, and she made do with what the villagers so graciously gave them: even waved off luxuries she knew the villages couldn’t afford to give up.

Determination sets her mouth in a firm, thin line, and Deva swore that she would raise her son – somehow, she knew it was a boy – in a way that would cause the palace walls of Mahishmathi to tremble. He would even outshine the sun.  

She realized her husband was still looking at her.

“When was the last time _you_ saw the stars like this?” she asked in return. The few glass bangles on her wrist chimed as she pushed her hair, strewn astray by the wind, out of her face.

Baahu’s eyes softened as they revisited a scene from what seemed like a lifetime ago.

“That night of the Krishna pooja,” he said. “Falling asleep on the tree branch, under the canvas of the stars and the full moon, soothed by your voice.” The corner of Deva’s mouth quirked, caught between a smile at the memory and a frown at the loss of that innocence.

“It was a simpler time.”

“I wasn’t the heir to Magizhmathi’s throne then. Just a simple village idiot. But you were always my princess.”

Deva smiled and her hands subconsciously encircled her stomach.

“Now you are full like the moon,” Baahu continued. “Will you sing for me again?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Not in this state,” she said, gesturing to her stomach. “Maybe after. For you and the child.”

He sighed. “Alright, yuvarani.” He leaned his head against her lap, the night wind teasing his curls. “Let the stars sing us to sleep instead.”

Deva hummed in agreement and ran her hand through Baahu’s hair. On that night, far away from the comforts of the palace she grew up in and the palace she married into, she realized she wasn’t alone: not with her husband, the villagers, and the stars watching over her.


	5. Orange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the tenth day, she is victorious.

“Dearest woman of many virtues, I tie this auspicious thread – essential for my life – around your neck, in the hopes that the journey of marriage we embark on together starting today, will joyfully continue for a hundred years and beyond.”

Devasena watches the golden cord rise on her neck and glances to Baahubali whose eyes shine with the light of the ceremonial fire.

Flower petals rain upon them like the snow that occasionally dusts Kuntala’s mountains. It catches in his curls and her tresses, ensnared in their eyelashes. Despite the huge gathering that blesses the newlyweds, to them the entire universe is contained in the other.

She smiles at him, and he grins back.

* * *

 

“Live happily and be prosperous.” Her brother and sister-in-law reach down to bless the couple. Baahubali stands, straightening his clothes for just a moment before embracing his brother-in-law. Devasena’s cheeks hurt from smiling.

“Long live the heirs of Magizhmathi,” the Queen Mother proclaims. “May you bear a son, just and wise, to occupy the throne.”

 _Or a daughter._ Deva bites back the remark, for Kuntala’s customs are different - better. She nods gratefully instead, avoiding the forlorn gaze of her husband.

“You’ve gotten what you wanted, haven’t you dear _Baahu_ ,” the King smiles at his cousin-brother.

“Indeed, with your blessing,” Baahubali replies with a grin.

Her husband may have missed the cold edge in Bhalla’s eyes, but Deva did not.

“Thank you,” she replies cordially, the same edge lining her voice.

* * *

 

 _Jai Baahubali! Jai Devasena! Jai Magizhmathi!_ the crowds outside cheer loud enough to reach the heavens, where the stars blink and bask in the bride’s radiant glow.

With the blessings of all the celestial bodies, by witness of fire, and with the guidance of stars -

Devasena becomes the daughter-in-law of Magizhmathi.

Or as she prefers it, Baahubali becomes her husband. 


	6. Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That night, Deva's perspective.

Moments tick by, stretching into hours, and Deva’s heart feels as empty as her stomach.

The midwife shifts nervously, holding the – her, _their_ – baby in her arms.

There is no sign of Kattappa.

There is no sign of Baahubali.

Her body aches in protest as she struggles to sit up. One of the other attendees moves forward as if to coax her back into a reclining position, but Deva waves a hand and pointedly looks at the midwife.

“Shall I...” she hesitates.

“Give him to me,” Deva says, voice lifting at the end with the ferocity of a lioness. The midwife passes the warm bundle to her. She takes her son into her arms, and gazes at his features.

She finds none of hers, and all of her husband’s.

She strokes his face with her thumb, marvelling at how tiny his features are, wishing Baahubali was here beside her to witness it.

But he is not.

Moments tick by, and Deva decides she’s done enough waiting.

“But yuv-”

The attendant is shushed by a single, arrow-sharp glance.

Deva sets out on the lonely journey.

* * *

She doesn’t plan on straying this far, but rumor spreads through the village like the fire flickering on the horizon, and the gaping maw in her chest is filled with dread.

_Amarendra, dead?_

Her baby – _Mahendra,_ she thinks, _Mahendra is a good name for a rightful King –_ squirms in her arms and she whispers to him softly:

“You will be safe. Don’t worry.”

She doesn’t say anything about his father, because the flames licking at the edge of her vision burn away at her hope.

* * *

The journey is normally tiring, and for a lonely new mother the pain is intensified a thousand times. It hurts more than the first time she traveled this path, because at least it was daylight and Baahubali was smiling brightly, his presence warm at her side.

Now the sun has set, and she is painfully alone with the ghost of his memories. 

She takes it one step at a time, the light of the stars above and the pinpricks of glow from the palace windows guiding her. Her hair loosens from where it was simply clipped at the back of her head, long strands falling aside, strewn on her shoulders.

One step, and then another.

_Baahu, wherever you are, give me your inhuman strength._

Her baby grows still as she palace looms ahead.

“You should’ve been born _there_ ,” she murmurs. “Though, I’m rather glad you didn’t. That palace is full of sinners and liars, and their shadows would have soiled your pure heart.”

When she finally staggers to the palace gates, the guards only look at her a moment – taking in the sight of a fierce expression on an even fiercer woman, a tiny baby in her arms. Her hair whips in the wind around her and they remember Mahishasuravardhani, the Kali that watched over the border of Magizhmathi. Thirsting for the blood of sinners.

They let her in without struggle.

The stars look upon her sadly. When they gaze upon Kannagi they will remember Devasena, standing at the steps of the King’s palace, asking for justice with proof clutched in her arms.

_Where is my husband?_

* * *

She knows when she sees Sivagami’s guilt-ridden face laden with pearl-like tears; when she sees the ruby-red blood shining on Kattappa’s hands; when she sees the smirk on Bhalla’s leering face, teeth sharp as diamonds.

She lets herself collapse, feels the cold wall at her back as she slides to the ground.

_Where is my husband?_

_He has been executed for committing a crime against the throne!_

Sivagami touches her foot, and her fingers are cold.

 _Too little, too late,_ Devasena wants to think.

But a promise is a promise, and the quest to uphold dharma is worth all their lives, all the blood in their veins –

All their lives but one.

“Mahendra Baahubali must live,” Devasena tells the stars. “Watch over him for me. I will wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always wondered how Deva showed up on time for the Big Climax Scene.  
> The Mahishasuravardhani reference is towards the form of Durga that kills Mahishasura - which I think is referred to in BB2 where Devasena arrives with Bhadra's head in her hand, much like the Kali statue that watches over Magizhmathi.  
> Kannagi, heroine of the Silapathigaram, asks the King where her husband is. Like Deva, she finds out he has been wrongly killed. Like Deva, she seeks justices. Like Magizhmathi, Madurai burns. (and yes, the random jewels referred to here are because of this)


	7. Yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shining in the sky like the sun, the moon, and the stars.

“Yuvarani,” he calls gently, and the warmth of his voice brings feeling rushing in from the tips of her fingers to flood the cracks and crevices of her body, all the way to the depths of her soul. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has,” she hums a quick reply, surprised by the nectar-like smoothness of her own voice. “Long enough that the _yuva_ is no longer appropriate-”

_Rajamatha Devasena!_

She doesn't want to heed the disembodied voice's call, instead, focuses on the man before her. He takes her hands in his, fingers sliding under hers to cup them gently as he lifts them to his face. He presses a kiss to her fingertips -

And she realizes her hands are free of the untimely wrinkles caused by agony, of the dark stains left by the harsh rays of the sun, of the disfigurement wrought by the lacerating throes of the wind.

Devasena’s hands curl in surprise, fingernails digging into his palms, leaving crescent-shaped indentations in their wake. She is jolted even further by the warmth she finds in his grasp, the steady thrum of _life –_

_Oh._

This is no dream, like the stairs cleaved from soft wisps of clouds with golden hues seem to hint. This is no memory, like the regal, jewel-bedecked,  _living_  form of Amarendra Baahubali had led her to believe. (Mahendra never called her _yuvarani,_ anyways.)

So that means –

Her chest is noticeably hollow. It is filled with warmth, brimming with the rush of adrenaline brought by delight and fulfilment thrumming bright in her ribcage - but she misses the heartbeat that was her sole company for twenty-five lonely years.

Amarendra studies her face closely, his ever-present smile fading into a grim line of understanding. He steps beside her now, wrapping an arm around the breadth of her shoulders – like the day he had escorted her out of Magizhmathi’s palace – gently coaxing her into leaning against his reassuringly steady form.

Devasena allows herself one moment of melancholy: a silent prayer for Mahendra and Avantika’s wellbeing ( _may the united nations of Magizhmathi and Kuntala shine with splendour forevermore)_ , a whispered note of sadness that she would not witness Devendra’s coronation nor be able to bless his union with whomever Avantika found fit (or, knowing their family history, whoever came brandishing a sword into his life)–

Then Amarendra sighs beside her, warm breath curling into her (dark as night, black as a raven's feathers) hair. Devasena's face slowly splits into a broad smile.

“We have forever now, don’t we?” she asks, turning in his embrace. Devasena up looks at him expectantly through her lashes, searching for confirmation in his eyes.

 _Tell me this isn’t a dream,_ she wants to plead but dignity holds her tongue back. _Tell me I will not wake up alone in the palace -_ and an icy chill sends trembles through her body – _or worse, in a cage._

Amarendra holds her gaze for one terrifying moment, then sets his hands on her shoulders, a small smile blooming on his face.

“We were never separated, Devasena,” he says in that rumbling voice of his. Part of her wonders if a thunderstorm is rolling across the skies of Magizhmathi as he speaks:

“And now I am here to prove it. We are united. Forever. No celestial being may tear us apart, now.”

She smiles and he juts his chin in response, taking a cautious step forward. She follows suit, catching his hand in hers.

Devasena walks side-by-side with Amarendra into the light. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this chapter brings this deleted scene fic to an end! (In case I was a little too vague, yes, this is our Amarsena reuniting in Whatever Comes After :) )


End file.
